Name: "Ryuu" Ryuunosuke Signum ( "Ryuu" means "dragon" ,"Ryuunosuke" means "dragon of help" ,and "Signum" means "seal")
Age: 13
Birthday: Summoner 1st ( His birthday is on new year's eve. This month only has one day in it.)
Class: Gladiator/Warrior
Eye colors: Ryuu covers his right eye with his hair ,and that eye is black. The one he shows is green.
Hair color: Red orange.
Hometown: "Tharsis"
Height: 5'7"
Notes: Ryuu is an orphan who is loyal to Hana at all costs. It is almost like obsession. He has always found Hanasaku cute ,and tries to stand up for her. I don't want to go too far with his parents. I spoke about them in the first chapter already. Ryuu almost loves his scarf more than he loves Hana and hasn't washed it in the ten years he's had it. Ryuu hasn't told Hana why he's so loyal yet,but Hana assumes that it's because she stood up for him when there were bullies picking on him. This is somewhat wrong. Ryuu's scarf is very close to him ,and he feels that's the closest he'll ever get to his deceased parents. He's kind of afraid to take it off. Brac and Rai didn't let him. He had always heard those two talking about his sealed power,and how it could possibly overwhelm him. They always gave Ryuu anger management classes ,and made sure he became the patient person he is today. I'll give you a hint… Ryuu Signum. You know what that means. Well, I hope you do. Ryuu is an awkward and sweaty teenager that is often confused for a sixteen year-old. Rai says this is because of his powers and he needs to be able to control his feelings. Ryuu is effected by his power in several make him look older and more average body temperature is 120 degrees and it is healthy for his body. When he's angry his body temperature rises tremendously. His highest was 141 degrees ,and he wasn't dying. He dislikes Niku,and Tsukiro. I told you why he hated Niku. He dislikes Tsukiro because Tsukiro looked through his underwear drawer the day Dove looked in Hana's. Ryuu knows that Meru likes him and he doesn't requite those feelings. He has feelings for Hanasaku and hasn't said anything.
Pros: He has mastered the usage of swords, he's good at hand-to-hand combat, loyal, is the son to the Monk Obi, He'd die for any of his comrades, and he's caring.
Cons: Has an obsession with protecting Hana and he beats up on himself if he feels like Hana got injured in any way, is a jerk when Hana's not there to be one, He doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings unless they hurt his, he shows off in front of Hanasaku, is disagreeable ,and defensive at times, inclined toward anger.
Hobbies: Cleaning Hana's room and purging it of yaoi (Because Hana reads romance books and yaoi in the labyrinth. She tries to trick everyone by putting book covers over them.), Ryuu likes to follow Hana and Hanasaku, he likes to clean anything, he corrects people in his free time, and he likes to think. He's also a great blacksmith.
It was about two in the morning. The Aman's Inn was dead silent, until an ear-piercing scream came from Yoshiko's room. This scream woke up most of RAGNAROK and they all knew it was Yoshiko. Hana, Ryuu, Hanasaku,and Luna were the first ones to make it to her room. Tsukiro was lying on the floor,and he seemed dead. Yoshiko had an extremely pale expression on her face.
"Oh my goodness. Is he dead?" Hanasaku was in her nightgown. She went to poke Tsukiro. She got a few mumbles in response. His face was crushed in; it had an imprint of a fist in it. "Is this why you screamed?"
"No! No, it isn't! I was the one who did that to him! He's not important!" Yoshiko was frantic. She pointed to her shoulder,"Look!" She was about to cry. That was the shoulder that used to have the spider on it. In the spider's place was a webbed ball.
"The spider… did it-" Luna cut Hanasaku off.
"That bug laid eggs on you? Cool~." She said nonchalantly. Her eyes were smaller than dimes."Okay. I'm going back to sleep." Luna fell on the floor.
"Take it off!"
"You didn't say please…" Luna began to taunt Yoshiko from the floor. Luna was not an early riser. "We could always burn it off." Luna sounded drunk. She usually acted like this when she was awake ,but she didn't speak with much emotion and she didn't slur her words or fall on the floor. "Oh, wait. That would burn you too~!" She began to laugh hysterically.
"Great, now she's baffled." Hana rubbed her eyes." Yoshiko, you're wearing rubber gloves. Why don't you stop over-reacting and take the egg sack off yourself?" Hana was agitated.
Yoshiko cringed,but her expression changed into a smile of complete malice. She took the eggs off of her shoulder and placed them on Hana's shoulder.
Hana took a long time to react. She stared at the eggs and blinked hard. She made a distressed face,"Ryuu, take it off~!" the inn shook as she cried out.
Ryuu, her "almighty protector", stood still with a blank expression." Ew, I'm not touching that."
"What?! I thought you! I hate you!"
"I love you too, Hana." Ryuu crossed his arms. Hana then threw the eggs at Ryuu ,and it landed on his scarf. Ryuu made several sounds and his voice cracked. the sounds he made were generally loud ,but not as loud as Hana.
Luna peered up from the floor," See? I told you Ryuu had a sexual attraction to spider eggs~…" she mumbled.
Ryuu kicked Luna." No, I don't!"
"Assault~!" Luna shouted sleepily."I didn't say that… Hanasaku did…"
Hanasaku had hoped no one would have noticed her. Ryuu turned to her.
"Can't you take them off?" Ryuu asked Hanasaku. Hana grew even angrier at Ryuu and uppercutted him. Since Hana was grumpy Ryuu flew up and the air and collapsed . The eggs flew up in the air and landed back on Hana. She screeched at the sight of a slight opening in it.
"They're hatching!" Everyone screamed when Hana exclaimed those words. Keiko, Meru ,and Niku raced into the room.
"Hana! Why on earth are you bellowing like this!?" Meru was yelling. She was wearing a towel and had a pink sleeping mask on her head.
"Meru, you sleep naked?" Luna was finally waking up all the way.
"No! I'm in my underclothes!"
"Because everyone needs to know that." Ryuu commented.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better… I sleep naked." Keiko said.
"What?! Why?!" Niku began to yell too.
"Don't know. I don't care either." Keiko adjusted his towel. "I'm surprised no one noticed that I was in towel."
"We always see you shirtless." Luna got up from the floor," Meru, glaze my dagger with that fire stuff you have." Luna pulled out her golden dagger.
Meru complied quietly for once. She put the oil she had on her at the time and coated Luna's knife in it. She then lit it on fire with a match on Yoshiko's bedside table.
"Don't cook me!" Hana hissed.
"Yeah, that'll kill her!" Yoshiko was frightened.
Keiko took the eggs off Hana and threw them in Luna's direction. Luna sliced the eggs with her knife and the pouch turned to ashes on the floor.
"I guess people who don't care can read each other's minds." Hana was sweating; she really thought that Luna was going to ignite her.
Niku sighed, "I need help carrying the lumber from last night to the firm. Can some help me with it?" he spoke.
Ryuu gave him a look."What lumber?"
Niku shrugged,"Oh, I forgot to tell you how that lynx ended up chasing us…" Niku seemed embarrassed. He left the room and slammed the door. Everyone stared at the door. Niku always got like this ,and when he did Meru tried to comfort him. Niku was nice to everyone he met except for Meru. No one knew why. Maybe it was because Meru called him cute and saw him as her little brother since they were so similar in appearance. Meru blankly stared at the door.
"I'll get him." She went for the door.
"Don't." Ryuu rubbed his head. "He's not going to accept your kindness."
"I'm the princess; don't tell me what to do." She walked out.
Aoimi heard the yelps and the emotional turmoil from the next room. So, she did the logical thing; she ignored the noises. She sat still and stared at where her shadow should have appeared. She didn't fall asleep for the entire night. She was waiting. Midori had to come. She wanted her to. Aoimi took off her black gloves that she never removed in front of the guild. She began to study her left hand. The black scar was small and only took up an inch of her hand. It was right in the center of her hand. She didn't know what would happen if she touched it. It had just spawned there after her massacre. Since the scar was mentioned in Midori's question Aoimi had the sudden urge to touch it. She gently rubbed the scar ,and when she did her head began to throb. The scar expanded and turned into a small black patch on her hand.
Aoimi?
A shadow emerged. "Midori. What were you saying?"
Oh, I only changed because…
A close friend told me something.
They said…
"Midori, would you stop hesitating?"
I don't think you'd want to hear.
Right now…
I just want to examine your friends.
The friends that have replaced me.
I want you to forgive me.
"Before you run out of time." Midori was a person again. Aoimi frowned at her.
"Why? So you can kill them too?"
Midori shook her head in response ,and took a glimpse out the open door. "Your friend is coming…"
Bare was about to come in the room. Midori touched Aoimi's scar and vanished. Aoimi sat up in her bed.
"Bare what do you need?" Aoimi didn't want to be bothered. Bare wore an upset expression on her face. She tried to cover it up with a grin.
"Aoimi. You know, when I was younger I used to think that commas and seizures connected the dead and the living." Bare was staring at the ground." I still think they do…."
Aoimi was growing flustered." What makes you think such an absurd thought?"
"When I was younger I used to be part of the Dominion. You know them, right?"
Aoimi didn't seem surprised,"The people in this guild have interesting backstories." she muttered to herself."Yeah, they're the pirates that are led by Blackbeard."
Bare nodded,"I ran away because I had a seizure." Bare's eyes began to dart around the room."My parents had died several years before I became a pirate,but when I had that seizure… they came back for me. They told me the truth."
Aoimi squinted at the ceiling. "Was that girl Hari a pirate too?"
"You're catching on quickly." Bare laughed quietly."We had code names. I was Darling and she was Brown Boots. I don't know why Hari came here. I'll have to ask her later."
There were a few more minutes of silence. Aoimi started to look for her gloves. She didn't want Bare to see the patch. She decided to converse with Bare some more.
"If your parents died… Who took care of you?"
Bare had her eyes locked on Aoimi."My cousin Scott. He's pretty close to Blackbeard. I have a brother too, but he was like Scott's lackey."
"Oh,okay." Aoimi lost her glove in the covers. Bare was wondering why Aoimi was being so strange.
"Aoimi, Who did you reconnect with?"
Aoimi was perturbed."We were always connected." Aoimi stated while she was still searching for her gloves. She began to daze out ,and found herself re-explaining her entire life story to Bare. She included the black scar in the tale. She knew that Midori wanted her to tell the story. Aoimi found one of her gloves and lifted it in triumph. She then realized that she was still in front of Bare ,and that she had only found the glove that was supposed to go on her right hand. Bare's blank expression and changed into disgusted one.
"Whoa!" She gasped."That can't be a scar! It looks like a black tattoo!"
Aoimi squinted at Bare and moved her hand in front of her face. She suddenly found her self screaming. The scar had expanded greatly.
"Aoimi, chill man,chill." Bare hopped up on Aoimi's bed,"Let me see it." she insisted.
"No!" Aoimi punched Bare in her gigantic forehead. Bare bounced back on the wall before she fell on the floor. Aoimi grew a dumbfounded look on her face and couldn't keep her mouth closed. "Bare? Did I kill you?"
"Nah…"
"Good."
Meru came back into Ryuu's room at eight fifty-five ,and saw that he was sleeping. She wanted him to wake up. She started to call his name,but only got half asleep responses like: "Hana, go die somewhere.","Rai, I'm not ready to die yet." and "Aoimi… No." She was upset and needed to apologize to Ryuu anyway. She went to her last resort and moved her hand toward his scarf. Ryuu grabbed her arm and almost broke it.
"Ow~!" Meru wrenched her arm back from Ryuu's grasp. "You nearly broke my arm!" Ryuu ignored Meru, and slowly rose from his bed. He yawned some. Meru found him so attractive when he was half-asleep. Then again, she found him attractive all of the time. Ryuu's hair was a little messier than usual, since he was just waking up. His hair over his right eye was moved behind his ear and his right eye was tightly shut. Ryuu was about to cover it when Meru questioned him about his eye.
"Ryuu, why do you cover your eye?" She flipped her hair after she rubbed her arm.
Ryuu gazed at her for a moment before he actually began to talk,"I'm blind in this eye. It's a different color than the one I show." he stated while pointing at it. He opened it ,and the iris was black along with the pupil. He closed the other eye to show Meru that he would be unable to see out of his right eye. The results were rather peculiar; Ryuu couldn't see Meru ,but could see other things. There was a white wispy thing that was where Meru was and some sort of aura behind it. He could not see his surroundings.
Ryuu closed his eye again and pretended that he didn't see what he had just seen."See? I'm blind out of it." He wasn't sure if he was lying or not.
"Strange." Meru wasn't speaking much. She seemed to be rueful about something. She was playing with her hair and shifting her gaze. She swallowed,"Ryuu, I'm sorry. You were right about Niku." she was pale and Ryuu was surprised that he didn't notice that."You're probably right about that Hana stuff too. You should tell her before someone else does. If that happens, you two will get into one of those big arguments. Again." Ryuu and Hana had a tradition of bickering with one another. These mainly occurred when both of their mothers were brought up. Ryuu would defend both mothers ,but Hana always had a grudge against were other things they yelled at each other for, but none were brought up as often as their mothers. These squabbles, however, only improved their close bond. Ryuu and Hana took each other's words to heart during these disagreements and followed the advice they were giving to each other. They'd forgive each other or they'd forget the argument. This was the case for the mother/parent argument. That was an argument that had to be brought each time it left. Ryuu sat on his bed with a concerned expression.
"Niku… Where'd Niku go?" Ryuu asked.
Meru looked sickly and began to tremble,"He ran away from me." her voice was brittle.
"What? Where did he go?"
"I told you, I don't know… He just ran away."
"What? No,no. He just did that?"
"Yup." Meru looked off in the opposite direction of Ryuu."He's gone alrighty. He's gone like this guild's sanity."
Ryuu jolted from his bed and sprinted down the hall to Hana. Hana sighed before she sourly stated the words she did.
"I know ,Ryuu." She shook her head,"I thought that she might tell you why Niku even did that." she was in her exploring gear.
"Well, she didn't!" Ryuu began to hyperventilate. Hana watched him with an almost amused look on her face. Hanasaku came over and stood next to Hana. She the proceeded to pick up Aoimi's hammer that she had forgotten to pick up and whammed Ryuu in the stomach with it.
"You idiot. The more you worry, the more time wasted." She was also fully equipped and held a book in her right hand. "I say we get going now." Ryuu put his hand on his abdomen. "Ryuu, why do you sleep in your exploring equipment?" Hanasaku asked randomly.
Ryuu eyed his apparel,"I was tired." he sounded more than confused.
"Of course you were. After what you did last night I was exhausted just staring at you."
"What happened last night?" Hana muttered with a dissatisfied tone.
"Oh,um-"
"Nothing. Okay?"Hanasaku said scornfully. No one knew if that was pointed toward Ryuu or Hana.
Hana put her hands on her hips,"Yeah, Hanasaku's right! We need to find Niku as soon as possible! We'll take the entire guild to find our beloved farmer!" Hana's shrill voice made the inn shake once again.
Everyone else didn't take that well. They all added smart comments.
"Ha, beloved." Ryuu laughed dryly.
"I thought I was your favorite farmer!" Yoshiko screeched.
"Entire guild? Look guys, I'm not coming!" Luna shouted while she was pretending to be optimistic.
"Hana Venus Flytrap! The whole guild went into the labyrinth. Only a bloody Hana returned!" Aoimi jeered from the other side of the inn.
"Are you trying to say that I'm some cannibal?!" Hana yelled back.
"Pretty much." Aoimi was standing next to Bare. Bare had bruise on her forehead and was caressing it.
"Whatever. If I were a cannibal… I'd eat people that actually looked tasty!"
"Hana, you know you want to eat Carlos and Pablo!"
"Ew! Aoimi!" The entire guild shouted back.
Hana stated her new plan and changed somethings. Instead of having everyone explore at once, she said that Aoimi's group had to come later than hers. Aoimi watched Hana's group leave. Hana had the same people from last time except for the fact that she had replaced Niku with Luna and Tanaku had to come along. Luna was great at fighting. She came from a famous family in the east, the Kakasei family. They were the strongest in the east and now they wanted to be strongest in the west too. Luna has two sisters, Hina and Mira. They were twins. Mira ran away several years ago and Hina and Luna tried finding her. When they did they were meet by suprise. Mira had joined the original guild RAGNAROK that was in Tharsis and had new friends. She then said she didn't love them. Because of that moment Hina and Luna went to overtake different labyrinths. They wanted to be better than Mira. Four years after the incident, Hina went to Etria and Luna ended up there in Armoroad. However, none of her sisters knew how painful this was for Luna, and Luna didn't want them to know. She finally hardened herself and now she seemed emotionless.
Hana's group had packed breakfast and lunch with them and Aoimi's group had to eat their breakfast at the inn. Hana said that they'd have to eat there and catch up later. Aoimi's group,Hanasaku, Bare, Tsukiro,and Yoshiko, had to go exploring with went off into the outskirts of the city with her group. They were mostly quiet as they walked.
"Where are we going?" Dove said as she attempted to look underneath Luna's yukata.
"Well, we were going to go into the stupid maze, but then… I thought to myself. What if Niku's not in there?" Hana concluded.
"I'm not sure about that." Meru had a solemn appearance,"Niku ran in the direction of the labyrinth." she added.
"Fine." Hana dashed ahead of them,"Hurry up ,you slowpokes!" she ran in the direction of the Yggdrasil.
"No one calls me a slowpoke." Luna was monotonous as she chased Hana down the stone roads. "Get back here." Tanaku, Ryuu ,and Meru took their time before they caught up. Dove was only trying to see what type of panties Luna wore, if she wore any at all. She did ,but Dove didn't know any better. Tanaku was studying Meru and wondering why she was acting funny.
"You two are quiet today. I haven't heard you speak since the incident, Meru. Is there something you aren't telling me?" She tugged at the sides of her hat.
Ryuu didn't want to seem odd, so he replied."She's not feeling well."
"I can tell." Tanaku snapped back.
Once the trio caught up to Hana, Luna, and Dove, they saw that Gears was at the entrance as well. Ezra was chatting with Hana, Isis was examining RAGNAROK, Zero was eating a chocolate bar, Kogageru was pondering about something, Himi was putting bug repellent on everyone while saying,"Thank me later!", and Mei Ling was giving Dove the evil eye. Ryuu didn't like Ezra much because of how fidgety he got when Ryuu asked him questions. Ryuu listened to Ezra's conversation with Hana.
"So, you're searching for that Niku kid?" Ezra was fixing his hat.
"Yeah, it would be great if you helped." Hana made herself sound friendly in front of her role models.
Ezra smirked,"Our guild doesn't open up much," he was thinking about how to word his next words."but your guild has potential. Do you want to become…allies?"
"Sure!"
Ryuu felt a surge of discomfort go up his spine. He pondered for a second before he remembered something. Ezra had a powerful aura. Ryuu gingerly placed his hand under his hair, and moved the bang in front of his right eye. He slowly opened it while his green eye was still open. Ezra's aura was huge and Hana's was even bigger. The most notable fact, however, was the glowing woman between the two. She had pigtails and looked ghostly,and closely resembled Hana. Ryuu took a few steps back. Ezra kept turning in the direction of the woman and smiling. Ryuu closed his right eye ,and the glittery woman was gone. Ryuu realized it then. He could see dead people and the woman that he had just seen was the legendary Hanami Zeus Zaki. Ryuu wasn't the only one who could see. Isis and Ezra were staring at the woman too. They seemed to know her already. Something wasn't right about those two. Ryuu had a feeling that they were stronger than the rest of their guild and that they knew more things that they shouldn't.
Isis was awfully giddy a that moment; she was predicting everyone's movements. It was like she knew what was going to happen. This was how she normally was ,but this was different. She was better at it than ever before. She was almost some type of prophet. She was far from it. She was the polar opposite. Ryuu pulled Hana away from the duo and recommended that they went to find Niku. Ryuu didn't like what he had just felt.
The group made their way to the forest, and spotted a green hat on the ground. Hana knew it was Niku's. She floated over to it and eagerly went to pick it up. Her forehead hit a red headband on another forehead. It was Kise. She was about to grab the hat too.
"You! Why were you about to take this? It's not yours!" Hana staggered back with the hat in her hands.
Kise was still ,and was trying to remember something. "It reminded me of someone. Sorry…" She wasn't in her usual stellar mood. She was concentrating on the hat. She gave Hana a glance and ran into the labyrinth.
"This day keeps on getting weirder and weirder." Hana pulled out her "spell book".
When guild RAGNANROK entered the labyrinth there was no sight of Kise. Hana was in the lead and the trip was quite boring. No one was speaking and no one knew why. They stopped by the stairs to the second floor and ate breakfast. Dove couldn't take the silence.
"You have some nice floral panties ,Luna."
Luna's features didn't change at all."Oh, thank you." Her voice wasn't as flat.
Dove sighed,"Why are you being so quiet? Say something!" she screamed."The silence is killing me!"
"I know!" Tanaku and Hana shouted in unison.
The three started to converse loudly. Luna removed her mask from the side of her head and stared at it gloomily. Ryuu took a few glimpses at Meru. Meru was stabbing a strawberry in her fruit salad several times.
They finished the food they had,and traveled to the second floor. Meru muttered a word or two.
"Death rates are high here." She said.
The second floor was no different from the first. There were plenty of flowers scattered around and some were moving. Luna quickly put her mask back on the side of her head.
"Keep your guard up." She pulled out her dagger."I sense a presence."
Dove and Hana were the closest together. The noises were coming from a bush near them,and a big green bird came out. Their allies were faced in the opposite direction,so they didn't notice. Dove went to scream ,but Hana had already let her mouth slip.
"That is one ugly bird." Hana stated with a dumbstruck look on her face. This bird was different than the other largebills. It wore a scar across one of its eyes; this one was stronger than the others. It was aware of humans and their wants, and it was no stranger to combat. If only Hana saw that. The bird locked its eyes on her as if it were offended. The bird wobbled over to her with a curious look in its eyes. Well, that was before it ate Hana whole. Dove latched on to the nearest tree.
"Distract it!" She shouted as she scrambled up the trunk..
Hana's legs protruded from its mouth and she was still speaking from in its throat. Ryuu tensed up and seemed terrified , Tanaku began to yell insults at the beast, Meru fainted ,and Luna kept yelling at the bird to hit Ryuu. The bird waddled all over the place and nearly ran Luna over.
"Keep it still!"Dove was on top of the tree.
"I can't!"Luna slid to her side."Tanaku, Use that smoke bomb you have."
"Okay." Tanaku threw the bomb at the bird and nothing happened. It began to bird wheeze because of the smoke ,but it was able to see.
"You suck."Luna snapped. "Ryuu, do something cool with your sword."
Ryuu had a grimace on his face."What if I hit Hana?"
"Oh my goodness." The four girls left standing spoke at the same time.
Aoimi's group rushed down from the staircase.
"What's happening?"Hanasaku ran to Ryuu's side.
"The bird…it ate Hana."
"No,no,no. Stop lying."
"It's true."
The bird swallowed Hana's legs. The guild watched with shocked looks on their faces. Everyone was shocked ,except Aoimi of course. She was beaming; no one could tell if she liked Hana or not.
"I'll name you Ernesto!"She pointed at it triumphantly. "Get it? Ernesto, and it's a bird!" Aoimi burst into hysterics.
"Aoimi, this is a serious situation. Any sort of mistake could get us critically injured."Tsukiro straightened his glasses.
Aoimi was still grinning,"Don't worry. I just saved us." The bird, Ernesto, charged at Aoimi because she had just provoked it.
"Aoimi, move!" Yoshiko tightened her grip on her knife.
Aoimi peered upward; she was underneath the tree Dove was in. The bird opened its mouth to chomp at Aoimi,but she gracefully evaded it and hopped to her left. The bird squawked and it sounded much more like a roar. While it was in the process of doing that Dove dove from the tree into Ernesto's back. Ernesto spat Hana out and she flew on the ground, while falling to the floor.
"D-Dove? How on earth did you…" Meru gave her a horrified stare.
Dove's ponytails began to move. They were odd,like her. Dove said that they were a part of her so she could move them. Dove was extremely happy right now.
"I'm like fifty pounds overweight." She bragged."I'm literally one hundred fifty-five pounds."
Luna sounded annoyed,"You're proud of that?"
"Course not."Dove said while being sarcastic.
"Hana!" Ryuu and Hanasaku raced to the guild's technical leader. The girl was resting on the floor and was covered in bird spit. Ryuu made it first and began to shake her until she woke up.
"Yo, you guys just plan on leaving Meru on the dirty ground?" Aoimi helped the princess up.
"Thanks." Meru took hold of Aoimi's hand.
Ryuu glared back.
"I-I…" Hana mumbled.
"She's talking now!" Hanasaku leaned over her. "Hana, are you okay?!"
Hana inhaled and it sounded like she was about to say something important,"I almost drowned in bird spit… Do you think I'm okay?" she began to whine.
Hanasaku punted her in the leg."Don't worry us like that!"
Ryuu began to cradle Hana in his arms. "Hana, that's why we don't call things ugly." He sounded like everyone's mother figure.
"But it was!" Hana pouted. She realized her guild was watching and shut up afterwards."What are you ogling at?"
"Shut up, your image is more than ruined." Luna muttered.
The group of twelve walked and turned a corner. They came into a narrow walkway. They were chatting in hushed whispers ,but they suddenly stopped at the start of the road.
"Why did we get quiet?" Aoimi broke the silent moment.
"Three o' clock." Bare uttered.
"Three o' clock?"
"Look!" Bare pointed down the path. The path was pretty clear, but at the end there was a humongous green lizard with purple fluid leaking from it mouth.
"That's gross." Yoshiko hid behind Ryuu. "I don't want to fight that."
A man clad in flashy red armor emerged from behind them; he closely resembled Kise. He had blond hair that appeared to be in a ponytail ,but it wasn't. It seemed as if he were about to speak, but then Aoimi shouted something.
"Oh~!," She yelled. "I'll name that one Diego!"
"Aoimi, be quiet." Hana gritted her teeth. She turned around to the man,"Can I help you?" she blinked because she saw the the striking similarities between the man and Kise.
"No," He paused,"but, it would be best if you heeded my advice." he kept on eyeing Luna. Luna was giving him a death stare. "Are you novices in this labyrinth?"
Hana glowered at him, "Who are you?" she snapped. She felt a bit hypocritical when she asked since she was thinking about Kise.
"Me?" He replied with an amused smile,"That isn't important at the moment, just as I do not need to know your names." he was still smiling. "You, however, are the talk of town, Hana Venus Zaki."
"What?" Hana didn't want anyone in town ,except for those that needed to know, to know her name. And somehow the entire town knew it. "How do you know that?"
Ryuu and Hanasaku froze in place when they heard those words. The man seemed to notice them.
"Ask those two. They are suspicious."
Hana slowly turned around."Ryuunosuke Signum…" She growled angrily.
Aoimi smiled," It looks like Ryuu no escape from this one." Aoimi joked.
Hana moved her head back toward the man. "What do you plan on telling us?" The man's smile slowly faded and he began to talk to Hana quietly. Hana walked away from the man after five minutes .
"What'd he say?" Keiko sounded like he cared.
Luna snorted,"Why do you care?" she inquired.
"Shut up." Keiko shifted his eyes.
Hana took a small breath,"It was hard to understand him; he spoke formal English…" she thought some."Um… Don't fight the lizard. The lizard killed everyone who challenged it…except…" Hana seemed upset."Guild Gears…" She stated in a defeated tone.
"Aw, Hana~! You look so cute~!" Aoimi gushed,"Don't worry, we'll destroy Gears!" Aoimi encouraged her. "And just so you know, I have no idea what you said before the Gears part."
"My word, Aoimi…" Hana facepalmed,"Don't fight the lizard. The lizard makes bad guilds go bye-bye." Hana stated slowly. Hana walked in front of Ryuu and Hanasaku. "You two are usually the smart ones. How do we avoid this thing?"
Ryuu muttered,"I'm not good at dodging things." while scratching the back of his head.
"Luna might know." Hanasaku suggested.
Luna was scrutinizing the man in the armor with some annoyed look.
"No way! I'm not asking miss 'Ryuu has a sexual attraction to spider eggs'!" A little bit of Hana's spit landed on Ryuu's face.
"I said that?" Luna almost exclaimed.
"Yeah…" Yoshiko peeked out from behind Ryuu.
Luna swiftly evaded the reptile and made sure everyone followed. They continued moving onward.
"Hey." Dove pointed out a shine coming from a bush."What if that's something useful?" Dove extended her hand to touch it,but then another hand to hold of hers. It was Kise again. Dove yelped. "What the?"
"Don't go poking everything strange here. I did that and Kujura and Marin yelled at me ,and the monsters came for me." The girl was wearing a slight frown.
"I know Marin, but who's Kujura?" Hana questioned.
"If you don't know him… it's none of your bee's wax!" Kise shouted obnoxiously. She ran in the direction of the lizard.
Hana was in a sullen mood and that didn't make Meru's sorrow any better. Aoimi peacefully bounded ahead with Hanasaku and Luna. Ryuu was talking to the other males in the guild. Dove was eating green tea flavored pocky. Yoshiko lagged behind with Tanaku. Tanaku was trying to have a decent conversation with Yoshiko ,but Tanaku was a tomboy and Yoshiko was pure innocence. ( Except for the time she crushed Tsukiro's face in, and when she put the eggs on Hana.) Tanaku only ended up scaring Yoshiko.
What they all heard was a roar-squeal from a near bush. The green bird Ernesto wasn't finished yet.
"AHHHHH~!" Yoshiko clung onto Tanaku. Tanaku ran like her sister, Tanako, was chasing her.
"Move, fools!" She forcefully shoved everyone out of her way with Yoshiko still screaming on her side. Everyone split up after that. Tanaku and Yoshiko dashed to the left, Tsukiro, Dove ,and Luna fell and Ernesto trampled them. Everyone else sprinted forward.
"I thought Dove killed it!" Hana was on Ryuu's back.
"I forgot to mention that I saw the bird slip away while you were whining." Keiko was holding his mask on his head."I might be able to steer it away from us."
"It'd be great if you did that!" Since Aoimi was ahead of the guild she had nothing to worry about. That was until she veered around a corner. "Oh, crap…" Aoimi stopped the others with her. "We're in quite the dilemma." Aoimi pointed down the floral path and another lizard was hopping around in search of food.
"What are you going to name that one?" Keiko sneered.
"Oh, let me guess… Dora!" Bare started giggling.
"No, I'm going to name it Antonio. Now shut up-" Ernesto hit Aoimi with his beak."Ouch!"
"Aoimi, your amigo is harming you!" Bare pulled out her guns and shot at the bird several dozen times. "I say we get passed the… um… Dora lizard! It shouldn't be that hard!"
"Well, the situation here is different than the others. We have to escape the rampaging bird that is behind us." Hanasaku explained.
"That means we go now; while Bare distracts it!" Ryuu scuttled in front of Aoimi and faced the lizard. It was standing right next to him.
"Ryuu, crawl between it's legs!" Meru followed him.
"Uh, Hana's still on my back!" Ryuu cried out.
"Forget Hana!" Aoimi barked. "I'll get her!" Aoimi and Bare were preoccupying Ernesto.
"Hana why can't you just move yourself?" Bare shot Ernesto in the back.
Hana was staying still on the flower covered earth."No, I'll get you Aoimi." she slowly rose from the ground,and electrocuted the green bird. "This thing is weak to voltage, and that just so happens to be my specialty." she said boastfully. "Ryuu, Hanasaku, Keiko, Meru… you four get passed Dora. We'll catch up."
"What? No!" Ryuu reached out for Hana,"I'm not leaving without you!" Ryuu held on to her shoulder.
"That's too bad." Hana smiled. "Aoimi, use the last resort."
"Okie dokie!" Aoimi hit Ryuu in the head with her mace and he went out.
"Take him somewhere safe!" Hana screeched.
Keiko held Ryuu in his arms, went off with the other two girls. Hana, Bare, and Aoimi were left standing there with no Monk around to heal them.
"What do we do now?" Bare inquired.
"I don't know. That attack I got earlier should have killed it. It was an attack of 343." Hana shivered.
"How'd you even get an attack that high?" Aoimi asked with an impressed grin.
"AHH!" Bare jumped to the side as Ernesto attempted to strike her down."It's mad now! What on earth should we do!?"
"RUN." Aoimi zoomed off toward the lizard. Hana and Bare followed behind her with the bird Ernesto flailing around after them. They were about to make it to a pathway that led them away from the reptile. Aoimi tripped and fell on a shellfish of some kind ,and she collided with Dora the lizard.
"Hi…?" Aoimi braced herself.
"Aoimi!"
"Kujura~! Kujura~!" Kise was glittering as she ran over to the man that trained her. She skipped over with her normal smile."They were weirdos!" She pointed out. "Like me!" She was blushing.
Kujura wasn't effected by this. He had trained her for about two years. Marin had helped him some ,but not much. Marin didn't want to deal with Kise unless it was a necessity. She did interact with Kise ,and seemed like her mother figure. Kujura was more like a brother to Kise. Kise had amnesia and Marin and Kujura were trying to recover her memories. Kise didn't know why ,but she knew it was the main reason she was there. To tell the truth, Kise didn't even care about about her past. She only cared for Marin and Kujura. The only thing Kise could ever remember about her childhood was her older brother. She knew his name and knew that she was seaching for him. Marin was only so close to Kujura because she was forced (more like bribed) to train him and they worked together very often. Marin trained him for ten years.
"I'm pretty sure they were weirder than Gears…" Marin came from behind Kujura, "Don't you think?" she asked with an unnecessary giggle or two. Marin began to recall the first time she and Kujura had met Gears. Zero and said something cocky to Kujura. So he, being the brat he was, began to mock them. Zero didn't see through the sarcasm. Ezra and Isis were analyzing the lizard.(Now known as Diego.) Mei Ling was had a shameful look on her face while she stared at Zero and Himi suddenly began to screech at the lizard. She shouted,"This isn't on my contract! Ezra, I'm going to kill you!". It was awkward enough, but then Kogageru grew a creepy grin before stating,"Don't worry, Himi we'll kill it for you.".
After that Isis proceeded to call out all the weaknesses and features of the the beast ,and all of Gears ,except for Himi, charged at it and almost killed it. Ezra was about to end its life ,but then Marin stopped him. Ezra didn't like her much after that.
"No one can be more peculiar than Gears." Kujura finally spoke.
"Excuse me, but did you not hear the green one call the largebill Ernesto? That was awesome…"Kise sighed wistfully.
"They didn't act strange then kill one of the strongest creatures in the stratum, did they?" Kujura examined the twelve year-old girl beside him.
"Not yet!" Kise threw her arms up in the air.
Marin stood by idly before she asked,"Speaking of RAGNAROK, have you seen them?" she seemed perplexed.
"What why?" Kise was nearly vibrating.
"The princess of their party, Meru I think it was… she's the missing princess of Jotunheim. Her father, being the tyrant he is, came to find her. Without informing Armoroad's superiors, at all. I have to find her and take her into questioning."
"Oh, cool~!" Kise said as cheerful as ever."I think that Peru girl looked like me!"
"It's Meru. You know, like that mountain a few countries away." Marin faced Kujura. "Do you know which direction they went in?"
"That way."
"Ow! I think that thing broke my back!" Dove got up.
Tsukiro's glasses were slightly cracked,"Dove, if it had broken your back you'd be in a critical condition." Tsukiro spoke to his cousin.
"I wish it did break her back." Luna said while wiping dirt from her yukata.
The trio began to take their time while they shortly recuperated. They thought that they should go after Yoshiko and Tanaku first because they had no monk and their defenses were lower than Hanasaku's self-esteem. They turned to the left and heard faint voices.
"We should hurry."Tsukiro quickened his pace. Dove and Luna walked slower. They came into a small room filled to the brim with flowers.
"Ooh, this is a take spot…" Dove picked one flower.
In the flowers were Tanaku, Yoshiko ,and Niku. Niku was red and apologizing. Yoshiko kept on repeating, "What you did was quite silly, Niku.".
"Hey!" Dove moved through the room."Any of you need healing?"
"Nah."Tanaku blew a small flower and its pollen flew everywhere. "We should probably go and get Hana and them. I heard 'em scream 'Aoimi' a while ago."
"That isn't good."Luna muttered. "They're probably dead by now."
Ryuu found himself gasping for air on Meru's lap. They were in a small closed in room that was housed with tents. Hana was nowhere to be seen and Keiko and Hanasaku were talking to another guild. It was guild Fang ,and that was shocking to Ryuu.
"Where's Hana?" Ryuu had risen so quickly that he had gotten lightheaded.
"Relax. She should be here at any minute."Meru appeared to be getting over the Niku thing. She was still sad and it was easy to tell. "Ryuu, can I tell you about earlier?" She pleaded.
Ryuu held his head,"Sure, go ahead…" he murmured wishing that he hadn't risen so fast.
Meru swallowed. "You have to promise me something." She began to play with her earrings. "You can't get mad at Niku for this."
"Fine. Just speak already." Ryuu put his head back on Meru's lap.
Meru took a breath before she spoke. "I helped Niku with the lumber and he told me how he ran into the lynx. He said that he had a bad feeling while chopping wood with Hana and after that it just popped out." Meru eyed everyone to make sure that no one was listening, "I tried to make him feel better about it and I accidentally placed my hand on his. He was livid out of nowhere. I just saw a side of him that no one had had ever seen. He was so loathing and scornful. He slapped my hand and told me that I ruined his life and should stop trying to be nice. Then he just ran off…" Meru's voice was only a soft whisper. "I think he knows who I really am…" She said to herself.
Ryuu didn't know what to do when Meru said that. It had so much affect on him he forgot all about Hana, Aoimi, and Bare. He didn't want to be angry at Niku or Meru. He felt incredibly bad for the both of them. He realized how lonely Niku was. Niku did tell everyone he was an outcast and a runaway. Niku didn't have anything but them. And for some reason it all had to do with Meru. Ryuu didn't understand then. It would take most of RAGNAROK four months to get a clue. Ryuu hopelessly stared at Meru.
"Don't know if I want to be angry with you or Niku." Ryuu was still trying to comprehend the problem.
Meru blushed, "You'll probably get mad at Niku when he comes back. So, I'll help you." Meru bent over Ryuu's face.
"What are you doing?" Ryuu had a strange apprehension building in his chest.
Meru turned red. "I'm going to get you upset with me." She kissed him. In front of the other guilds and Hanasaku.
"Easy lizard, easy lizard. I don't want to fight you, you don't want to fight me." Aoimi could have snuck away then ,but she realized that this lizard was an herbivore and her green hair made her look similar to a plant. The lizard pranced over to her with a greedy gluttonous gleam in its eyes. Hana froze out of nowhere and Bare tried to help Aoimi.
Bare shot a storm of bullets at Ernesto and that caused him to flee. Bare spun over to Aoimi and Hana. Hana was pale and Aoimi was unsure on what to do.
"Do something!"
Aoimi looked back at Bare, then Hana. "It's gonna chase me if I run."
"It seems to move slow! You can run Aoimi, and Hana can too!"
Aoimi went to take off ,but she saw that Hana was lacking pupils. She had a bad feeling a really bad one. She shouted Hana's name, but got no response. She knew if she left Hana Ryuu would kill her. She began to feel sweat going down her forehead. She turned to Bare and saw the bruise from earlier. Aoimi thought for less than a second. She was desperate. So she assumed that the black scar was a seal on her strength and when had contact with the scar it let some out. She guessed this all from the time she had punched Bare. Aoimi didn't remember punching Bare as hard as she could ,but somehow Bare flew across the room and got a bruise on her head. Aoimi thought that theory might make things straight. She devised a plan at her top speed to save Hana. The plan was simple: hit the lizard with all of her might after touching the scar.
Bare understood for some reason,"Don't do it!" Bare warned Aoimi.
She launched herself in the direction of the gluttonous fiend that had killed several other explorers, and moved her fingers underneath her left hand's glove. After that she finally swung at the beast. She hit it so hard her right arm slightly bent the other way. She collapsed on the floor in front of the now mortally injured lizard. The lizard could still move its legs and edged for Aoimi.
She looked up with a fearful face,"That should have killed it." she was quiet now. The lizard was directly over her and Aoimi could feel the purple venom dripping on her. "I never thought I'd end up as lizard feed."
Bare screamed Hana's name so loud it could be heard from the camping spot down the road, and it snapped her out of her daze. Her eyes were yellow and they still didn't have pupils. She vanished and reappeared in the lizard's face.
"Tell that lynx that I said 'how's hell'!" Hana electrocuted the lizard until it was a pile of ashes. After she did that her pupils returned and she smirked at Bare. "Is there something wrong?" she asked as her grin widened.
"Holy cow! Hana what's up with you?!" Bare exclaimed as the five guild members that were left behind appeared from the corner. Dove examined the area.
"No way!"Dove gasped. "Hana, you did it again?!" She swiftly ran down the path with the others trailing."What did you kill?"
Tsukiro didn't pay Dove any mind. He immediately began to treat Aoimi. He noticed the purple bacteria fluid that could only come from one of the greedy lizards. "Hana, you defeated one of the lizards by yourself?" Tsukiro grew alarmed,"That would mean that you were…" Tsukiro stopped mid-sentence.
Hana looked down at Tsukiro while he wiped the poison off Aoimi. "Aoimi did the work. She nearly broke her arm doing it though." Hana stated.
Tsukiro placed his hand on Aoimi's right elbow. Aoimi grunted. "She sprained her elbow. She's pretty tough… I think she'll have to stay at the inn to recover for only a week."
Aoimi furrowed her brow,"A week! I'll miss so much!" she swore at Tsukiro.
"You'll miss twice as much if you continue." Tsukiro said."I'll make sure you get home after we find the others."
"No! Can't you heal it!?" Aoimi threw a fit.
"I don't think so. Dove might be able to."
Dove was admiring Hana. Dove felt Luna staring at her.
'What do you want?" She put her hands together.
"Heal Aoimi."
"Not right now. Let's wait until we find everyone else."
The group began to walk along the path.
Hana glared at Niku, "Thanks a lot ,Niku." she snarled. "This is your fault. You should brace yourself for Ryuu's reaction. You sprained Aoimi's elbow in an indirect way."
Niku shook his head,"I know what I did was stupid. I'm so sorry." he sounded as if he was about to cry.
That made Hana feel bad,"I didn't mean it that way! Don't cry about it." she tried to comfort Niku.
They walked to another pathway that lead to a door. They entered to see Ryuu enraged and backing away from Meru. Lamia of guild Fang blew a wolf whistle ,and went off in hysterics. Ryuu was the same color as his scarf and shouting so loud and fast that his words were illegible.
"What are you doing?" Hana bounded over.
Hanasaku seemed a bit disappointed, "Meru kissed Ryuu." she sighed.
Aoimi smiled,"I saw it coming." she said while sliding a few of her fingers under her glove to touch her scar. She rubbed her arm and proceeded to flex it without hurting her elbow. Dove went to heal her when that happened and was surprised to see that her qi had no effect on Aoimi's arm. Dove did nothing else, but glare at Aoimi.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing."
Dove frowned,"Well you did something alright. Your sprain is completely healed!"
"It's a miracle." Aoimi walked toward Keiko. Keiko wore a bland expression that screamed "I don't care".
"What?" He said while he kicked a stone.
"Fill me in."
"What?" Keiko looked like he had felt something. He was confused.
"How'd you get here? Why are there tents everywhere? Do you have a tent?" Aoimi inquired.
Keiko picked s flower from a bush next him and examined it,"There's a woman over there. Her name is Olympia. She gave us a tent to use, and we figured that we should wait before we rested." he gave Aoimi the tent. "Set that up with Hana."
Aoimi shrugged and went on her merry way. She peered at Olympia ,and thought that she was awfully pale. She reminded Aoimi of Lady Caelum. Both had a calculating gaze and an identical mark over the same eye. Caelum was there at the time and was making eye contact with Olympia.
"Creepy…" Aoimi mumbled to herself. Hana was next to Ryuu and bragging about the entire story to the guild and guild Fang.(Herald and Amadeus were not there. They were resting in Fang's tent that was decorated with, you guessed it, shark fangs!) Yakusoku seemed like another person. She was so quiet and respectful compared to last night. Lamia faced the opposite direction and muttered a few things to herself.
"Finally," She said. "a guild that might be stronger than Gears…"
Aoimi called out to Hana. "Hey, Hana help me set up this nifty tent!"
"Okay."The girl rose,"I'll save the rest for later." she spoke to her miniature crowd.
Lady Caelum had listened in on the story Hana was telling, and Olympia did too. Lady Caelum stared at the ground.
"Olympia, I am more than sure now. Hana Venus Zaki is the one the Yggdrasil mentioned in the prophecy." Lady Caelum straightened her glasses.
"That can only mean that the world will soon be in her hands." Olympia replied to the blue-haired girl. "Let's hope that she knows what to do with it."
This chapter was based on character interaction. The chapter after the next will be too. That chapter will be the finale of "Ryuu no Escape". I think I'm adding a little too much to each chapter. Next chapter will be named "Suspicion" or "Suspense". This chapter isn't for everyone. It is a chapter that shows you everything that happened in town while RAGNAROK was in the labyrinth. I'm warning you now because next chapter has cannibalism in it. Isis is the main character in this chapter. The chapter will tell you why she is inclined toward insanity and what happens after she flips the page in the Prophecy. I hope that chapter doesn't ward you away.